"Do not, I beg you, be troubled by forces already dissolved. You have mistaken the hour of the night. It is already morning." (Hilaire Belloc)

Sunday, February 12, 2017

St Therese of Lisieux in Russia

Septuagesima Sunday, 2017

The year was 1999, just after the Fall of the Communists. Russia was still devastated by the sickness of atheism. Boris Yeltsin was in power. The Money Power was busy plundering Russia of its resources. Despair was rife.

I have always been both charmed and deeply interested in this story mainly because of the timing of the events. Yeltsin was so eager to play ball with the money changers that in his drunken delirium he turned over major Russian assets to them for pennies on the dollar. Some of these characters became instant billionaires and with their cohorts accelerated the theft of Russian wealth and resources..

But St Therese is the Patron Saint of Suffering Russia, so designated by Pope Pius XI. The visit of her relics in 1999 is more than remarkable if we consider that not long after she visited Russia Yeltsin was to relinquish his power to his designated successor, believing that his successor would continue to allow the stripping from Russia of anything of value and keep the Oligarchs happy. In 2000 that successor was elected, and he moved quickly and unexpectedly to stop the rape of Russia. His name was Vladimir Putin.

Is there a connection between these two interesting events, the visit of St Therese, patron of suffering Russia, and the coming to power of Vladimir Putin? I do not know, but I believe it to be an intriguing turn of events.